Emery Town Council discusses issues during meeting

Emery Town held their council meeting on Oct. 15 in the Town Hall. Mayor Williams called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. Those present were Ileen Baker, Mayor Michael J. Williams, Eric Anderson, Jon Sundstrom, and city clerk/recorder Judy Mortensen. The first agenda item was the reading of the minutes from September's meeting. After a couple of corrections made by Sundstrom, the minutes were approved and accepted.

Item number two was discussion and approval of the town's bills. Some clarification was made and motion to pay the bills was seconded and carried.

Anderson then discussed item three which was the use of city equipment. He stated that the person who is running the city equipment is not properly licensed by the state. It was reported that the operators of city equipment must have a CDL to protect the city against any liability in the event of an incident. Mayor Williams responded, telling the council that he would look into the question and ensure that the necessary conditions of employees is met.

The next situation addressed by Anderson was the use of city equipment by city personnel and private citizens for personal use. He asked if there was a policy in place that governed these occurrences. Williams asked Anderson if he would research the records and if not, would he put together some guidelines to have for the next meeting so the council could look over them. Sundstrom stated that the city also needs a log for the equipment so the location of the equipment and the purpose for which it is being used is known at all times.

Office hours at the city office was next on the agenda. Anderson was concerned that sometimes people who do not know that the city office is only open three days a week are being denied services. Mayor Williams responded that he would make a sign to clearly state the office hours and include emergency daytime numbers at which he or a council member can be located. The mayor stated that he would look at the mid-year budget to see if a plan could be worked to open the office more days a week.

Mayor Williams reported his findings on the catch basins that need to be built for the city. He said they would cost $75,000 each and that a comprehensive plan needs to be agreed upon, but at this time he could not get all the interested parties together for a meeting to discuss the plan. He said he would keep up his effort to have this meeting. He also stated that flood control plans need to be included in this meeting.

Building permits were next to be discussed. Williams addressed some rumors going around town that people do not need building permits to do major work to their homes. He then clarified the building permit requirements that major renovations do require permits. Williams also reported on the insurance inspection. He stated that the insurance inspector had given a 'clean bill of health' except for the sand in the playground. He said the flood last month had washed away some of the sand under the equipment and it needed to be replaced. It was moved, seconded and passed to replace the sand in the playground as soon as possible.